Case definition for any case of plague, since 1 August 2017 and related to the outbreak of plague in Madagascar
Definition
Clinical criteria |
Bubonic plague:
OR Pneumonic plague:
AND at least one of the following three:
OR Septicaemic plague: Fever and chills |
Laboratory criteria |
Laboratory criteria for a probable case
Laboratory criteria for a confirmed case
|
Epidemiological criteria |
Returning from Madagascar or contact with a traveller returning from Madagascar in the past 7 days OR Working in a laboratory handling cases samples in the past 7 days |
Contact exposure criteria |
In the past 7 days, at least one of the following:
|
Classification
Contact | Any person meeting the contact exposure criteria |
Possible case | Any person meeting the clinical criteria with at least one the epidemiological criteria |
Probable case | Any person meeting the clinical criteria with at least one of the laboratory criteria for a probable case |
Confirmed case | Any person meeting at least one of the laboratory criteria for a confirmed case |
*Please note that this case definition is limited to plague cases directly or indirectly linked to the epidemic in Madagascar. It may differ from the TESSy EU plague case definition.
Algorithm for initial assessment and management of cases related to the outbreak of plague in Madagascar*

*For further information on plague diagnostic recommendations see http://www.emerge.rki.eu/Emerge/SharedDocs/Downloads/EMERGE-Plague-recommendations.pdf?__blob=publicationFile